A bit of history - The National Historical Museum of Albania

The National Historical Museum of Albania is the largest museum of the country which is located in Tirana, the capital. So, during your visit in Albania I suggest you to visit this Museum because I think you don't want to leave the country without knowing its history. The National Historical Museum its the right place because it decribes and shows with its objects Albania through ages.

Now,let's take a look at the Mosaic in the entrance of the museum. This mosaic is simply called "The albanians". This artwork was created by 5 albanian artists and was finished on 1980 for the opening of the museum.

Without going further, I want to ask you...What's the first thing that comes in your mind when you see this mosaic? Maybe war, people fighting for freedom or it gives you the impression of Albanians during different periods of time? Well, I think that everything that you thought has to do something with the meaning of the Mosaic but let me tell you the true story.

This Mosaic is the story of Albanians who fought against invasion throughout the centuries and for a country like Albania who was claimed an "easy-target" , it was devastating to go through so many wars and occupations. As soon as one finished, another one started. But despite the efforts of trying to preserve their culture and their originality, you don't go out of the storm the same way you were when you came in. During the centuries, Albania added some foreign "patterns" which belonged to turks, italians, germans and even some of the communism period. It's like Albania decided to grow in a strange way. However, in this mosaic you will notice symbols that depict these periods; the man in a suit carrying a piece of paper in his hands is Ismail Qemali, the one who declared the Indipendence of Albania in 1912. The red star in some people's hats show that they were Partisans and many more symbols that are waiting for you to discover the meaning.

The museum is divided into 8 pavilions which are: the Pavilion of Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Independence, Iconography, National Liberation Antifascist War, Communist Terror, and Mother Teresa.

The most striking one is the Pavilion of Antiquity, with 585 objects starting from the Paleolithic period to the late antiquity. The middle ages pavilion contains 300 objects and documents the tranformation of illyrians into arbers. The pavilion of Renaissance shows the period from the mid 19th centurty till 1912. However,even the other pavilions are as remarkable as the ones I mentioned but it's in your hand to discover them.

Have a nice historical visit!